Will Special-Contracted Teachers Promote the Development of Rural Students? From the Perspective of the New Human Capital Theory

Abstract

The Special-Contracted Teacher Scheme, a supplement to the traditional mode of teacher supply, has been implemented for 17 years and the teaching quality of those teachers has gained a lot of attention. Using data of teachers and students from the sample counties in four central and western provincial-level administrative units, this paper studies how special-contracted teachers have affected students’ academic performance and non-cognitive ability according to the student development framework of the new human capital theory, and how those effects vary among different teacher groups. Results show that while special-contracted teachers have helped improve the academic performance of rural students, their role is limited in improving students’ non-cognitive ability. At the same time, female special-contracted teachers and those without a normal major play an obviously bigger role in raising students’ academic performance. The conclusion is that special-contracted teachers can to some extent help narrow the urban-rural gap in academic performance, but more research needs to be done to better understand their effects on students’ non-cognitive ability.

Keywords

special-contracted teachers, students’ development, new human capital theory, evaluation of teacher quality, educational equality

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